Search Results for: blog 101 dalmatians 1961

101 Dalmatians Book and Movie: Always Charming

The 1956 book “The Hundred and One Dalmatians” by Dodie Smith is a very English, very droll story of married Dalmatians Pongo and Missis, and their also-married pets, Mr. & Mrs. Dearly.  You read that right: Missis.  Perhaps the biggest surprise (to me) reading the novel on which the Disney film was based, was to discover that Pongo’s wife was not called Perdita, but Missis.  Even stranger is when a dog named Perdita appears.  She’s a liver (brown)-spotted Dalmatian that serves as a wet nurse for Missis, who cannot handle the milk load required by 15 puppies. Perdita’s own pups … Continue reading →

101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure (2003)

When we last saw Roger and Anita, they had taken in all the kidnapped puppies collected by Cruella DeVil. With Roger’s song about the villainess a top seller, he could finally afford to purchase a home, or, as he called it, “A Dalmatian Plantation.” We begin part two with our loving doggie owners packing up their belongings and getting ready to make the move. With boxes being toted here and there and general chaos everywhere, one little puppy is feeling left out. Patch, son of Pongo and Perdita, doesn’t feel like there’s room for him in the family. With 99 … Continue reading →

101 Dalmatians (1961)

Roger and Anita are living the perfect life. They’re young newlyweds, each the owner of a beautiful Dalmatian dog, and while they’re not very rich in money, they feel they have everything they could possibly want, with the possible exception of a hit song idea for Roger, who is a composer. To make things even better, Perdita, the female Dalmatian, is going to have puppies, and Pongo, the male, couldn’t be more pleased. But there’s a fly in the ointment, or perhaps we should say, a flea. Cruella DeVil, the most evil woman in town, has spotted (ha ha) the … Continue reading →

The Dangers of Pet Fads

When I saw “101 Dalmatians” for the first time as a kid, I loved it so much I just had to redecorate accordingly. I had two separate designs of “101 Dalmatians” bed sheets, a huge poster, a table lamp, and stuffed toys adorning my bed. But the one thing I didn’t have was an actual Dalmatian dog. No matter how much I begged my parents for one, they didn’t give in. They didn’t want to take care of a dog, so they weren’t going to bend to my whim. Unfortunately, many other parents did, either to that of their children … Continue reading →

Angelina Jolie Argues Cultural Rights vs Disney Princesses

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I love Angelina Jolie, I really do. She’s socially minded, she’s active in refugee and orphans’ rights and she’s not remotely hesitant to speak her mind. But in a recent article in OK! Magazine, she’s described as feeling let down by the lack of different cultures featured in children’s films. “There still isn’t a Disney princess that’s African and it’s very difficult because our daughters’ getting into princesses right now and it upsets me.” Jolie is quoted. I get what Jolie is saying, she wants cultural diversity to be in the mainstream attractions so that her kids (culturally diverse as … Continue reading →

Who’s Your Favorite Movie Villain? Part Three

Continuing with the movie villain thread, another one of my personal favorites was Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus from Gladiator. In love with his own sister and having killed his father to obtain his title, he wanted to squelch Russell Crowe’s character Maximus so he could be in complete control of Rome. Joaquin definitely deserved his Oscar nod for this villainous performance (and he looked good while pulling it off!). Not all the villains listed on Entertainment Weekly’s top 50 were human. There were four animated villains – Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, Shere Khan from The … Continue reading →

How Old Are Your Favorite Disney Films?

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I have a special little cupboard where I keep all of our Walt Disney children’s classics. OK, it is a pretty big cupboard and it is loaded with both DVDs and VHS tapes. Truth be told, I started collecting Disney movies long before I ever had children. Heck, I was collecting them long before I ever met my husband! I love the Disney classics and even some of the more recent children’s movies made by Disney/Pixar and I love that my kids are enjoying them too. The funny thing about Disney movies is that I could probably tell you where … Continue reading →

Disney Snuffs Out Smoking

In what is being hailed as a groundbreaking move, Walt Disney Studios today made the decision to snuff out smoking from its family flicks. The official announcement came it a letter to U.S. Representative Edward Markey, chairman of the House Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee. Disney Studio execs wrote that they would be “discouraging depictions of cigarette smoking in its films and plan to place an anti-smoking public service announcements on DVDs of any future film that does depict smoking.” Disney bigwigs also added that they would be encouraging theatre owners to run anti-smoking PSAs before Disney movies. The media … Continue reading →

New Puppy: What’s in a Name?

My sister-in-law just bought a beautiful, cuddly and absolutely adorable 7-week-old golden retriever puppy for my nephew. This is a momentous occasion in his life because he’s wanted a dog for as long as he could say dog. He loves to play with ours (we have five of them), but they have never been in a position to have a dog before. Today was a big day for them and what ended up amusing me was the biggest problem that they had was what to name the puppy. Agonizing Over a Name Naming a child is something parents can spend … Continue reading →